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Saturday, September 19, 2015

Who Really Owns Music - Part 2

Sizzla Kalonji

Part 2 - ReproductionLicensing, Performing, and Pressing PlayElvis has left the building. The lights on the 3-tracks RCA console have gone dark, and the 2" master tape reels have been taken to the factory, where they'll be transformed into 7" vinyl records for sale. Multiple forms of intellectual property have been created. It's time to start using them.You might be surprised to know that Elvis didn't write "Heartbreak Hotel." It was written by Mae Boren Axton (aka "Queen Mother of Nashville") and Tommy Durden. Elvis did manage to get a songwriting credit, but many believe it to be a vanity credit. These 3 songwriters are the technical owners of the composition. RCA Victor Records is the sound recording owner, and Elvis Presley is the performing artist for the sound recording.Fast forward to 2015. You own a boutique digital streaming subscription service, one that serves exclusively Elvis music. In order to allow your listeners to press play on "Heartbreak Hotel," you must obtain 3 different licenses:

a license to use the sound recording (specifically, Elvis' performance)

a license to reproduce the composition (known as a "mechanical license")

and a license to publicly perform the composition ("public performance" constitutes any exhibition of the song - radio, live shows, or even on the speakers at Steak Shack).

Each license is an agreement to pay the rights holder an arranged amount of money fo the use of their intellectual property. Obtaining these allows Elvis Music Service to run, but only for streaming on-demand. There are other licenses that are needed for other uses of music. For example, licenses also must be obtained to attach music to moving pictures (a synchronization license), and to publish a composition's words and notes on paper (a print license).

Each of these rights is owned by a combination of Elvis, Axton, Durden, RCA and various third parties (more on that in a minute). Each expect a portion of the money earned from the use of their contribution to the work.

In addition, every different kind of digital music use (streaming, downloads, radio, movies) requires various combinations of these licenses in order to be legal. Some licenses are even granted by copyright law (called "Compulsory Licenses")., with pre-determined royalty rates.

In short, using music for any commercial purpose requires a litany of license acquisition from the owners; and that doesn't even begin to cover payment.

Part 3 - Payments

Labels, Publishers, Societies, and Performing Rights Organizations

Paying labels for sound recordings is relatively straightforward. When the recording of "Heartbreak Hotel" is used, RCA Victor (now simply RCA) Records is paid for their ownership of the sound recording. Sound recording royalties are delivered on almost every use of a song.

But what about the composers, lyricists, and songwriters? How do they get paid when their compositions are reproduced on CD, played on the radio, digitally streamed, or otherwise used? In our example, payment comes from mechanical licenses (for compositions), and public performance licenses.

Dennis Brown and Bob Marley

In theory, the Presley-Axton-Durden trio could have managed the right to the composition by themselves and act as their own publisher. Acting as your own publisher can be time-consuming and confusing, so most songwriters and composers opt to be represented by a publishing company like Warner/Chappell, BMG Chrysalis, Kobalt, Sony/ATV, and others - companies that promote the composition and ensure songwriters and composers get paid when their compositions are use.

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Bits 'n' Pieces

25/01/17 It's A Streaming World With Vinly Only Living In, But It's Much Better These Days

Streaming and vinyl are two growth areas helping to return the music industry to profitability. But getting your vinyl pressed hasn't been easy. "You used to not have to worry about manufacturing," Matthew Johnson, co-founder of Fat Possum Records told Billboard more.....

09/09/16 Most Expensive Vinyl Ever Sold

How much is the most expensive vinyl ever sold worth? A recent test pressing of an

album sold for a record setting amount of cash, providing some insight into how high stakes the world of record collecting can become.

Ringo Starr's copy of The Beatles' self titled 1968 album has been confirmed to be the most expensive vinyl record ever sold. The first-ever pressed copy of the record was sold at an auction last December for $790,000 (522,438 pound sterling). Most commonly known as 'The White Album; each unit of record came with its own serial number stamped on the cover...more

16/5/16 ASCAP Pays $1.75 million To Settle U.S. Department Of Justice (DOJ) Investigation

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Thursday that the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has agreed to pay $1.75 million to settle allegations that they had engaged in anti-competitive practices in violation of a court order.

According to DOJ, ACAP signed contracts with approximatelyu 150 songwriters and publisher members that made ASCAP the exclusive licensor of their performance rights, despite provisions in court order prohibited ASCAP from interfering with its members' ability to directly license their songs.....more

23/3/16 Paul McCartney's Bid To Reclaim Songs by The Beatles Signals a Shockwave in Music History

According to Bilboard, McCartney filed a termination notice for 32 songs with the US Copyright Office in December, taking advantage of the US copyright act of 1976, which gives songwriters an opportunity to reclaim rights after 56 years.

UPDATE: The number of songs in McCartney's filing has now been reported to total 178

The earliest songs in the Lennon-McCartney catalog become available for reclamation in 2018. An unnamed source told Billboard that McCartney would only regain the rights for his half of the compositions he wrote with John Lennon. Moreover, the act only applies to music in the US., so Sony/ATV would retain rights to the music for the rest of the world

3/1/16 Spotify Threatened With Another Class A Action Lawsuit As Disputes Over Royalties Intensify

A class-action lawsuit recently filed against Spotify by Michelman and Robinson, LLP on behalf of Cracker frontman and college professor David Lowery will soon have company, Billboard has learned. The law firm of Gradstein and Marzanno -- itself in the midst of litigation on behalf of the Turtles against Sirius XM and Pandora will file its own class-action suit.

This new suit will make similar claims as Lowery and Michelman's alleging that the subscription service is not fully licensed for some of the music it offers subscribers, and that the company is not issuing complete royalty payments...more

3/1/16 Google asked to remove more than 558 million "Pirate" links in 2015

Copyright holders asked Google to remove more than 560,000,000 allegedly infringing links from its search engine in 2015. The staggering number is an increase of 60% compared to the year before. According to Google the continued surge is a testament that the DMCA takedown process is working, but some copy right holders disagree....more

30/12/15 Live365 Suffers a Collision of Misfortunes, Lays off Most Employers Vacate Office

Internet radio hosting platform Live365, one of the most venerable brands in this industry, is affected by shifting regulations that change the cost of music on January. In addition, the company's investors have pulled support from the company, forcing an immediate financial crisis....more

Billboard - The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) just announced new webcasting rates for 2016 through 2020. These are rate services like Pandora and iHeartRadio will pay for their online streams. With the music business continuing its seemingly inexorable shift to streaming, the CRB'S is incredibly important to a wide range of companies and people. But it's a complicated subject. So here are answers to some common questions that will help Billboard readers wade through the issue.....more

12/09/15 BMI Reports Record Breaking $1 Billion Revenue

Surpassing $1 billion in revenue. This performing rights organization stated that "it generated revenues of $1.013 billion during the period ending June 30, with $877 million of that going to its songwriters, composers and publishers."

Broken down, traditional revenue from all media licensing (radio, TV, cable, satellite) saw record levels of $484 million, while fees paid by bars, hotels, fitness centers and restaurants brought in an additional $137 million. On the digital side,BMI became the first U.S. PRO to exceed $100 million in revenue, thanks to a 65 percent increase over last year. Digital revenue sources included Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Pandora, Spotify and Youtube. Meanwhile, international revenue came in at $292 million, a 5 percent drop from last year....more

26/08/15 Baboom - Alternate Music Service

Baboom, as it's called, will let artists keep 90% of their song's proceeds. A new music streaming service envisioned by Kim Dotcom, the notorious Internet entrepreneur best known as the founder of Megaupload.

Designed as an alternative to popular streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, Baboom, as it's called, let independent artists keep 90% of the proceeds through it's "Fair Trade Streaming" agreementmore...

4/09/15 Reverbnation been hacked change your passwords

In an email to users, ReverbNation shared that its data had been hacked. Law Enforcement agents say that in January of 2014, an individual, who has since been charged, illegally accessed a vendor's computer systems and gained access.

While ReverbNation emphasized that no credit card data was accessed, it did recommend that users change their passwords.

How to Change Your ReverbNation Password

1. Log in to www.reverbnation.com

2. From your Dashboard, click on your profile image in the top right of the screen

3. Select "Account"

4. Select "Change Password" in the top right of the screen

5. Enter the requested information, and click "Proceed."

6. You should immediately receive a Reverbnation email notifying you of the password change

28/08/15 1 Billion People Uses Facebook

As of August 28, 2015 Facebook recorded 1 billion users on its social media network. That's 1/7th of the world's population, including people too young, old or poor to be online using, Facebook on a single day. If you still wondered whether or not you need to have a strong presence on Facebook, you have the answer.

"On Monday, 1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family," Mark Zuckerber wrote. "When we talk about our financials, we use average numbers, but this is different. This was the first time we reached this milestone, and it's just the beginning of connecting the whole world."

26/08/15 Baboom - Alternate Music Service

Baboom, as it's called, will let artists keep 90% of their song's proceeds.

A new music streaming service envisioned by Kim Dotcom, the notorious Internet entrepreneur best known as the founder of Megaupload.

Designed as an alternative to popular streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, Baboom, as it's called, let independent artists keep 90% of the proceeds through it's "Fair Trade Streaming" agreementmore...

26/08/15 Next Big Sound Data. Baboom. Music Row

Based on a study by Pandora-owned music data analytics company, Next Big Sound, within the first six months of the year 2015, "music was streamed over one trillion times across various services." The data was collected based on streaming platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Radio, Vimeo, Vevo, Pandora and Souncloud - Not including Apple Music and TIDAL.

If these other services were included in data collection, there would definitely be increased streams. As the industry grows it is important to note that "streaming is the present and future of music consumption."

26/08/15 Baboom - Alternate Music Service

Baboom, as it's called, will let artists keep 90% of their song's proceeds.

A new music streaming service envisioned by Kim Dotcom, the notorious Internet entrepreneur best known as the founder of Megaupload.

Designed as an alternative to popular streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, Baboom, as it's called, let independent artists keep 90% of the proceeds through it's "Fair Trade Streaming" agreementmore...

01/07/15 Rihanna is now the Best Selling Digital Sales Artiste of All-Time

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reveals that Rihanna has sold more digital singles than anyone else in history. The first artiste to cross the RIAA 100 million song certification.

With the iTunes store only opening in 2003, the digital music industry is still pretty young, but far from devoid of competition, commerce and platinum-selling artists.

The most successful of these, it turns out, is none other than Rihanna. In a new report, the Recording Industry Association of America has revealed that Rihanna is the first artist to ever sell over 100 million digital singles, and when combined with her cumulative 7.5 million album sales, makes her the best selling digital artist of all-time more...

30/06/15 Apple Music Reviews: What Tech Critiques are Saying

Apple released the iOS 8.4 update on Tuesday (June 30), and with it came the highly anticipated Apple Music streaming service.

Users may be confused: What makes Apple Music better, or even different, from Spotify, Tidal, Rdio and Google Music?

Critics are saying....

"Streaming services aren't just jukeboxes. Apple's strategy is to combine all-you-can-eat tunes with software that watches what you're playing, and also when and where you're playing it," The Wall Street Journal's Geoffrey A. Fowler says.more...

30/06/15 Shazam feature Tracks Artists tags

Shazam has announced its newest product feature, intended to prove that "the biggest the stars in the world are also the biggest fans, "as the company's statement put it.

The company announced the new feature at an event in Trebeca, as slim-suited tech sector participants watched a performance from Shaggy.

Whether the new feature will provide the magic the company is hoping for will remain to be seen for some time -- as Chief Product Officer Daniel Danker told Billboard the new product will become interesting once enough data has beenamassed.......more

26/06/15 A Sound Opportunity: How Brands Connects With Consumers at Summer Festivals

One big area of opportunity is in mobile and tech services. According to Nielsen's Audience Insights Report: Festival Fans, 82% of festival attendees have a cell phone/smartphone. So it's no surprise we'll see cell phone brands and providers all over music festivals this summer.

Though 41% have been with their mobile provider for four or more years, festival fans are 42% more likely to switch their service than the general U.S. population - especially for the latest technology. Similarly, festival attendees are more likely to use their mobile device for more than just staying in touch. In fact, festival fans are most likely to use their smartphones as their primary way to listen to music - 74% use their smartphone to listen music.......more

18/06/15 Rasta in Jamaican Music since Ska

While the connection between Rastafari and reggae is now so commonplace as to be taken for granted, at the recent Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) conference in New Orleans, USA, Dr Michael Barnett traced the link back to pre-independence.

"I argue that Rastafari has influenced Jamaican popular music since 1959." Barnett, who lectures at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, said in making his presentation at the conference......more

1/06/15 APPLE Reportedly about to sign Canadian rapper Drake to its new Streaming Radio Offering

Multiple sources have been speculating that APPLE will debut its new BEATS-based streaming offering at WWDC during a keynote most likely occurring on June 8th the first day of the conference. Now comes more info with THE NEW YORK POST reporting APPLE is in talks to sign a rumored $19 million deal to get DRAKE as a guest DJ for the service among other things.

The paper notes, "DRAKE is just one of a host of artists APPLE wants to snag for its huge all-encompassing assault on the music front. PHARREL WILLIAMS, who touted the APPLE watch on "The Voice' last month, and French DJ DAVID GUETTA are also in talks to get on board, several music industry sources say......more

27/04/15 APPLE Reportedly 'Declares War' on Jay Z TIDAL Service

There's a reported war shaping up between APPLE's Beats Music, set for a June launch and Jay Z's streaming service TIDAL. The New York Post reports "last week it emerged that TIDAL, following its March 30th launch, has fallen out of the iPhone top 700 apps. But positioning in the app charts is driven by downloads, and according to our source, APPLE 'deliberately took a long time to approve TIDAL iOS APP updates.TIDAL had a new app on ANDROID on April 15th, but still hasn't received approval for APPLE's iOS app store'......more

18/04/15 TV + Social Media = Engaged Viewers

From keeping tabs on friends via social media to skipping lines at the store by shopping online, technology continues to reshape our everday habits. The digital landscape is only getting more crowded, as a new wave of digital devices, such as wearable and connected car technologies, gain traction......more

27/03/15 What brands and publishers need to know about Facebook?

Facebook is gradually positioning itself to become the data, media-consumption and content-sharing backbone for the entire digital media industry.

Between making user data available in its video ad network LiveRail, making its video player embeddable on publishers' websites, growing its number of standalone apps and convincing brands and publishers to serve more content through its Messenger app, it's apparent Facebook's ambitions are only growing.....more

13/03/15 Spotify To Spend $1B on renewal deal with Universal Music

Spotify believes Universal Music Group has a billion reasons to renew it's song-licensing deal.

The streaming music service expects to pay Universal, the No. 1 record label in the world, $1 billion over the next two years to cover music royalties, ad revenue and subscription fees...more

But one website describe the move as knee-jerking and observed; That's paid out over two years..to just one major label group (that also owns an interest in Spotify). That headline, according to AllAccess, prompts the knee-jerk question: If the labels can make that much coin for their libraries...why again are artists getting fractions of pocket change for airplay? Good question right?